One of the best parts of Halloween is transforming yourself into one of your favorite characters for the night, and, usuallyyyy, these favorite characters are ones that you grew up watching on TV or in the movies. Nostalgia is always a huge hit on October 31st and wanting to pay homage *ahem* play dress-up *ahem* to the greats of your youth is something we can all relate to. Here are 8 different genres of nostalgic Halloween costumes that will hopefully give you inspiration on what to dress up as this fall!

1. 80s Cartoon Characters Costumes

Rainbow Brite – Shop       Optimus Prime – Shop       He-Man Muscle Costume – Shop

Grumpy Bear – Shop       Strawberry Shortcake Deluxe – Shop

Tenderheart Care Bear Costume – Shop       Captain Planet – Shop

The 80s was a great decade for many things: clothes, music, hair, and, most importantly, Saturday morning cartoons. Just remembering sliding out of bed, pouring a huge bowl of Count Chocula, and flipping on the TV brings a smile to our faces. There are so many options for Halloween costumes, too. Seriously, how many Care Bears were there? Like, a hundred? Like we said, plenty to choose from! Pick a single TV show and go as a group. Rainbow Brite and her pals would be a super cute idea, and the theme would be perfect for Pride events, too!

2. Scooby-Doo Halloween Costumes

Child Daphne Costume – Shop       Adult Fred Costume – Shop       Adult Shaggy Costume – Shop

Adult Velma Costume – Shop      Kids Ghost Costume – Shop      Infant Scooby-Doo Costume – Shop

Scooby-Doo, where are you?! This famous pup has been around so long that he hits the nostalgic buttons for people of all ages, from kids today all the way through to people our parents' age. Everyone will know who you are if you dress in one of the easily-recognizable members of Mystery Inc. Bonus idea: if you have too big of a group and have to come up with more ideas, someone should totally dress as Scrappy-Doo OR Scooby's lesser known cousins Scooby-Dum and Scooby-Dee.

3. Classic TV Show Characters Costumes

Gilligan Costume – Shop       Gilligan’s Island Mary Anne Costume – Shop

Child Wednesday Addams – Shop      Uncle Fester Costume – Shop

Adult Gomez Costume – Shop       Men’s Ricky Ricardo Costume – Shop

I Love Lucy Costume – Shop

Fans of these characters from the golden years of television either are nostalgic for the days that they originally aired on TV or just for the days that the reruns played on Nick at Nite. The cast of The Addam's Family would be theeee perfectly spooky (slash creepy slash kooky) get-up for Halloween, but have you ever considered Gilligan's Island? There are so many fun characters!

4. Flintstones Halloween Costumes

Dino Costume – Shop      Deluxe Pebbles Flintstone Costume – Shop       Betty Rubble Costume – Shop

Fred Flintstone Costume – Shop      Barney Rubble Costume – Shop

Adult Bam Bam Costume – Shop      Wilma Flintstone Costume – Shop

If you grew up around a television, there's about a 100% chance that you've watched at least one episode of The Flintstones. No? Not even the movie remake from 1994 with John Goodman and Rosie O'Donnell?! Ok, totally JK on the movie thing. But, you have to admit that the idea of a Flintstones group Halloween costume is pretty cute. Mom and dad can be Wilma and Fred, the kids can be Pebbles and Bam Bam, and little Rex can be Dino. It's just that easy, folks.

5. 90s Nickelodeon Characters Costumes

Catdog Onesie – Shop      AAAHH!!! Real Monsters Ickis Kigurumi – Shop

AAAHH!!! Real Monsters Krumm Costume – Shop       Rocko’s Modern Life Hefer Kigurumi – Shop

Wearing a kigurumi for Halloween is pretty much the best idea. Here's why. One: It's comfortable. Two: Big enough to hide candy. Three: When you're tired of partying, you're dressesd for bed already. Four: These are themed after some of the best cartoons to hit the SNICK lineup on Nickelodeon in the 90s. Remember CatDog? The head was a cat and the tail was a dog! Or was it ... the head was a dog and the tail was a cat? Uhhh. Either way, the theme song was phenomenal.

6. Karate Kid Halloween Costumes

Cobra Kai Costume – Shop      Karate Kid Daniel San Costume – Shop

Karate Kid Skeleton Suit – Shop      Authentic Karate Kid Cobra Kai Costume – Shop

There’s no nostalgic Halloween costume like the Karate Kid. Wax on, paint the fence, and Crane Stance! Admit it, we totally know you played Karate Kid with your older brother or maybe the neighbors when you were 10. And that wicked bruise on your ankle was from Sweep the Leg, not crashing the bike like you told your parents.

7. Classic Saturday Night Live Halloween Costumes

Lunch Lady Costume – Shop      SNL Garth Algar Wig – Shop      Wayne’s World Wig – Shop

Hanz and Franz Costume – Shop      Conehead Egg Cap – Shop      Sexy Stripper Costume – Shop

In our opinion, the 80s and 90s were the best years of SNL. Sure, more recent characters like Stefon the club kid or Dooneese the baby-handed singer are pretty stellar, buuuuut how do you compete with heavy-hitters like Wayne's World or Lunch Lady Land? Also, the nostalgia for old Saturday Night Live bits is alive and well on today's TV - have you seen the State Farm commercials lately? Coneheads are back! They're still funny, too, by the way.

8. Looney Tunes Halloween Costumes

Infant Taz Costume – Shop      Marvin the Martian Costume – Shop

Sylvester Costume – Shop      Bugs Bunny Costume – Shop       Infant Daffy Duck Costume – Shop

As with the Flintstones, Looney Tunes was a cartoon you usually found yourself watching at some point as a child, whether you chose to or not. It just always seemed to be on. As infuriating as that wascally wabbit could be, these characters make for some classic Halloween costumes. That little Taz is just too cute, too.

We hope this list helped you decide which nostalgic Halloween costume idea to go with this year. What do you think you and your friends will dress up as this Halloween? Let us know in the comments! Feel free to browse our adult costumes for more inspiration.